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Bank Negara's int'l reserves rose 0.19% to US$104.4b as at Aug 30

KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 6): Bank Negara Malaysia announced today that its international reserves amounted to US$104.4 billion as at Aug 30, up 0.19% from the US$104.2 billion it recorded as at Aug 15.

"The reserves position is sufficient to finance 7.5 months of retained imports and is 0.9 times the short-term external debt," the central bank said in a statement.

It reiterated that the short-term external debt is mostly accounted for by banking institutions, reflecting the centralisation of liquidity management of Malaysian banks operating in the region, and the sizeable presence of foreign banks in Malaysia.

"These institutions hold substantial external assets, which can be drawn upon, to meet their external obligations, without creating a claim on Bank Negara's international reserves," it added.

Foreign currency, the biggest reserves portion, grew to US$98.5 billion from US$97.8 billion as at Aug 15, while the International Monetary Fund reserves position was kept unchanged at US$900 million.

Special drawing rights also remained at US$1.2 billion, while gold was also unchanged at US$1.5 billion; other reserve assets dipped to US$2.3 billion from the US$2.8 billion registered previously.

The bank's total assets stood slipped to about RM446.40 billion from RM448.44 billion, while currency in circulation rose to RM105.47 billion from RM104.79 billion.